About Relocation By Numbers

I kept asking one question while looking at a move: will this leave my household better off, now and at retirement? I couldn't find one place that answered it. Cost-of-living sites left out taxes. Tax calculators left out rent. Retirement and FIRE tools didn't care where you lived. Getting a real answer meant stitching together several tools and hoping their assumptions matched.

So I built the place I couldn't find. Relocation By Numbers puts taxes, housing and long-term planning in the same calculation, and it shows its sources and limits so you can check the work. It is not a replacement for detailed personal budgeting or professional advice. It is a stronger planning starting point before you move, negotiate a salary, compare offers, or rethink where you want to live.

Relocation By Numbers is an independent project, written and maintained under the site name rather than a personal byline. Every calculator page names its sources, the date they were reviewed and what it leaves out, so you can check the work yourself instead of having to trust a name.

If you find a number that looks wrong, use the feedback box at the bottom of any calculator page. Reports that say what you entered, what you saw and what you expected are the easiest to check against the published rules.

• U.S. federal, state and local tax figures come from government sources (the IRS, state tax agencies, legislatures and city or county governments), and the date they were last checked is shown on the calculators. Each calculator page lists its sources and what it leaves out.
• When a state has not published a figure for the tax year, the page says so and names the figure that is being held or calculated instead of presenting it as published.
• The tax rules are refreshed each year when the IRS and the states release their new figures, usually in the fall.
• City rent, home-price and property-tax defaults come from U.S. Census Bureau survey data, and city price levels come from Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities. The national dollar budgets those price levels scale (groceries, utilities, transportation, dining, subscriptions), along with insurance, closing costs and moving costs, are the site's own planning assumptions. Treat every default as a starting point and enter your own numbers where you can; the methodology page lists which is which.

The full list of sources and limits is on the methodology page.

Relocation By Numbers is built for people who are trying to make a move decision with clearer financial context, including:

• people comparing two cities or states before relocating
• remote workers deciding whether a move improves affordability
• households evaluating whether lower taxes actually improve the budget
• future renters or buyers pressure-testing housing costs
• people exploring how location may affect a FIRE timeline

Relocation By Numbers provides planning estimates, not financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. Actual costs can vary based on neighborhood, household size, housing choices, deductions, insurance, and many other factors.

The tools are most useful for understanding direction and tradeoffs before making a decision. For more detail on assumptions and modeling, see the methodology page.